Brand Update : Slice Downgraded to Sub-brand of Tropicana

In an interesting move, Pepsi has demoted its mango drink brand Slice into a sub-brand of Tropicana. Slice which was launched in 1993 , came in to limelight with some good advertisement campaigns. The notable is the Aamsutra campaign featuring the brand ambassador Katrina Kaif. Tropicana was launched in 2004 as a healthy juice brand. 

What Pepsi has done with Slice is to migrate the brand to Tropicana by launching Tropicana Slice . The first launch being the variant Tropicana Slice Alphonso. The new product is being launched with the TVC featuring Katrina Kaif and Aditya Roy Kapur.

Watch the ad here : Tropicana Slice Alphonso

While Katrina Kaif stays to provide continuity to the Slice brand equity, the Aamsutra has been taken off. The focus of the variant still remains the " Taste + Indulgence " proposition. 

In many aspects, Slice as a brand is dead because the individuality is lost. It now has to follow the Tropicana's positioning. And it will remain a second fiddle to Tropicana till the Pepsi brand managers get further confused.

I am not privy to the logic behind this brand merger. According to ET, Slice has a second position in the mango drink segment trailing behind Maaza. 

The advantage I see behind merging Slice with Tropicana is that Slice will get the healthy tag associated with Tropicana. While Tropicana brand architecture will be confusing since it has a non-healthy sub-brand Slice attached to it. All the more, Tropicana also has a mango juice variant ! 

Frankly, I am little confused about this move by Pepsi, probably they will have some logic behind this move. It can be a rationalization of their portfolio. More marketing focus on Tropicana rather than Slice. 

However , as a marketer, Slice will be missed.